What To Think About

It may be hard to tell if you have Lyme
disease. False-positive and false-negative Lyme disease test results are
common. Many people do not make antibodies to Lyme disease bacteria for up to 8
weeks after being infected.

When an ELISA test is positive, a
Western blot test is usually done to confirm the diagnosis of Lyme
disease.

Doctors often do not rely on test results alone when
recommending treatment for a person who may have Lyme disease. Treatment is
often based on a person's
symptoms, the time of year, having a tick bite, and
other
risk factors for Lyme disease.

Finding
antibodies to the bacteria that cause Lyme disease does not always mean that an
active Lyme disease infection is causing your symptoms. It only means that you
were infected at one time.

National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2008). Lyme Disease: The Facts, the Challenge (NIH Publication No. 08-7041). Available online: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/lymeDisease/Documents/lymedisease.pdf.